States of Play

Friday, December 07, 2012

T-34 Tank Corps, 600 Points

T-34 Squadron and Company Commander (signaling).

I've decided not to do briefings like our other forces for the Flames of War armies. There's enough going on about the Great War I felt I'd just leave the history pretty much alone...my own army having little in common with it's historical namesake. A lot of different units bore the designation "6th", but I'm not going for full on historical accuracy with my gaming army. That would be madness, tracking it all down and making sure it was all within the boundaries of what was then on the battlefields. For my own 6th Guards Tankovy Batalon, they start the war in December 1941 at the battle for Moscow, and are entirely fictional.

We decided to start the club at Flames of War's recommended setting for low or introductory level play - 600 pts. Well, browsing through the armor lists I noticed that I wasn't getting any heavy armor at that level. Everyone agreed to play at 600 pts initially, so I had to find a company that would allow me to play at all our proscribed levels, 600, 1500 and 2000. Looking through The Eastern Front, I knew I was going to be playing Soviets. My partner, whom I usually play doubles with, wanted Rota Razvedki at first, but after another player dropped out decided to go full on infantry with a Strelkovy Batalon.

I found exactly what I needed in the plain old Tankovy Batalon. It's not as flashy, not as elite as the other tank companies that carry several mixed types of chassis...but there's a lot to be said about a horde of T-34's...my chosen main battle tank!

The first squadron rumbles along a dirt road in the Moscow oblast.

At 600 pts there aren't very many, to be sure. I get six tanks, a total of 1 Company HQ tank and 1 Combat Platoon of 5 more T-34's. This cost about $70 US, since I got 1 boxed set of T-34's and a single blister for the command tank. Easy to paint up as well...there's really not much to it. It was, however, the first time I used pigment powders on a model, and I used Flames of War's own line. I also picked up some powders from Vallejo as well, and will definitely be experimenting with those pigments a lot more. Overall, I liked how it turned out. Carefully weathered decals and just a smidgen of No.2 pencil to show chips in the paint and voila! Each tank turned out in about an hour, and thats with plenty of drying time for the various reagents.

I used some rubbing alcohol to bind the pigment before sealing it with a matte spray. I inked the commanders with some GW Reikland Fleshshade and that turned out very cool. This is the first project I've tackled at this scale, and it was very satisfying. There's something about doing a bunch of tanks at once that can't really be expressed except as AWESOME. Also, there's the fact I will get to collect an army that consists entirely of tanks to at least 2000 points...and no one will call be cheesy or beardy for it.

That's all for now from the Eastern Front! Remember, only a few weeks of battles left for this season...so get to the 'gate early on Game Day to make sure your guns and blades aren't quiet for another week. We're starting AD&D early to help smooth out the difficulties we had in the moathouse last week as well, so if you're dead or want to join the game we'll have a little extra time to sort things out.